


Discussing Worlds

by quibbler



Series: fitzsimmons at the academy [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-01
Updated: 2014-06-01
Packaged: 2018-01-27 21:19:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1722872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quibbler/pseuds/quibbler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fitz and Simmons decide they're going to delve into the world of Harry Potter and work out how magic functions.</p><p>(This sort of thing happens a lot.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Discussing Worlds

**Author's Note:**

> This is really just an excuse for me to write a bunch of science-y mumbo jumbo that might not actually make sense, despite me having taken physics and biochem courses in university. Unbeta-ed! This has been in my drafts for nearly 4 weeks and was titled CAN I WRITE SOMETHING FLUFFY IN SPITE OF LAST NIGHT??? ATTEMPT #1, as I started writing it the day after the finale. I then proceeded to sob at work for a few days reading angsty fic, so _I hope you're all happy_.

Perhaps it was a bad idea that she agreed to take a break from her assignments to watch Harry Potter and research into the books instead of the journals she had been reading before.

"Fitz, I know this is difficult to admit, but there is no way that electrostatic shocks can be integrated into a magical system like they've got at Hogwarts. Isn't that the reason why Muggle electronics don't work? Even _wristwatches_ don't work. There's some sort of interference." Jemma says, exasperated. They've done this more times than she can remember, arguing about how magic works in the Wizarding world. Sometimes she just wants to accept that magic just works, and there doesn't need to be an explanation, but then her best friend starts speculating about magic and physics seem incompatible but then there are other ways that they seem to co-exist.

Today is _yet another_ one of those days.

"But how else can you explain levitation? It's not like they're created a temporarily magnetic charge on everything so that _Accio_ will work on it, but if an electric field is applied, it will create a magnetic field opposing that of the Earth's magnetic field at that latitude and longitude. And electric charges can be manipulated well enough... And it would explain why Muggle objects don't work. They just go wonky, don't they?" Her best friend is tinkering with another half-finished invention and she keeps telling him that if he intends to create a delivery mechanism that can aerosolise a biological substance, it has to be versatile. Maybe one day they could create tissue grafts with aerosolised cells it, but until then, Fitz seemed to be more concerned about making the blasted thing as small as possible.

"Fitz, how much minute tinkering would need to be done with every flick of the wrist, though? Unless we're speaking on a quantum level, you can't adjust for changes that are that miniscule. And this is only the one spell. What about the curse that was shot at Hermione that caused her teeth to grow? _Densaugeo_? That's biologically impossible. Your teeth stop growing after a certain period of time unless you're a member of the order Rodentia and you need the regeneration of enamel. Well, not that enamel regenerates so much as continues to grow..."

"Whoa whoa whoa, Jemma, one spell at a time! And we still have to figure out how incidental wandless magic occurs. Is it a spontaneous biological occurrence?"

She hates when he uses the b-word against her. (Hate is entirely the wrong word. _Loves_ would be more accurate, but somehow he knows exactly how to use it against her.) Fitz knows that once he mentions biology, she's likely not to stop speculating and spewing theories, and she wants to wipe off that stupid, knowing grin, but she has to admit that she wants to discuss it. And the best way to clear that smirk from his face was to theorise. No one else would bother trying to start a conversation of this sort, no one but her best friend. Even if he knows that an argument is more likely than not to result out of his falsely innocent inquiry and even though he looks down his nose at her chosen field. The chemistry of potions, for example, is a relatively straightforward concept, but it's the effects of those potions that get her brain ticking, the biological consequences of drinking some magical substance that was comprised of herbs and roots and pieces of offal. Jemma pondered for a moment, resting her chin against the flat of her fingers. "Assuming your electric field theory, it could. But that brings up the question about how magic is passed on via genetics anyway."

The smug smile on his face falters and it's her turn to feel superior.

"Jemma--" he starts, looking wary.

"No, you started this, Fitz. You made the bed, now lie in it," she replies, pointing at him accusingly. (Her thoughts traitorously flit toward the idea that she is sitting in her bed and she hasn't exactly made it but her and Fitz always make a mess of each other's rooms with their gesticulating and experiments that it usually doesn't matter.) "Using basic Mendel punnet squares, it makes no sense that there can be purebloods, half-bloods, and Muggleborns, as that means it would have to be either a dominant or a recessive trait. And the existence of Muggleborns _and_ squibs is highly illogical if it was as simple as all that. _But_ if there were trinucleotide repeats..."A lightbulb goes off. "Yes! If there are non-Mendelian ratios of inheritance like with Huntington's disease. The repeats are unstable, but they can be passed down from generation to generation, with each successive one having more repeats. That would explain Muggleborn children with inherent magical abilities, and I'm certain a deletion would cause squibs in magical families."

Fitz stares, either flabbergasted or no longer paying attention, and she throws a pillow she never uses at him with enough force to earn a loud _oof_ out of him when it hits him in the stomach. "What was that for?" He asks, belligerent, and she grins mischievously, punching the air with her fist in mock victory. He tries to recover and aims the pillow in her general direction but Jemma ducks and it barely scrapes the top of her head. She reaches for it and places it behind her lower back, smiling innocently. "I take it back, I take back saying biology because you're just going to talk my ear off and I'm not sure I'm prepared."

She merely grins beatifically. "Do we need to pause the film? Because if I'm guessing correctly, we're about to embark on a theoretical journey into the world of magic and not even nostalgic cinema can distract us from that."

He sets his new toy on her desk, mirroring her grin. "I thought you'd never ask."

**Author's Note:**

> Any and all talk of magical genetics was heavily borrowed from [this](http://mypocketshurt90.tumblr.com/post/27495622491/i-sent-this-paper-to-jk-rowling-explaining-how-the) essay on Tumblr, which doesn't belong to me at all.


End file.
